the wanderings and wonderings of a grateful work in progress

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Lead with THAT, why don’t you?!

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

Yesterday I received an email with a listing of about 26 things that the assessor felt needed to be addressed prior to my house being put up for sale. Seriously…26. I counted. The majority of these items carried an estimated price tag from $150-300. Included on the list was a note that the new steel door leading from our garage to our living room would need to be replaced because it had a window in it and the window meant that the door would not prevent a fire from reaching the rest of the house if a theoretical/imaginary fire should take place in our garage and burn for over an hour. (As if fire will only enter a home through a doorway or that ANY door would keep the rest of my home from going up in smoke if a fire raged for an hour in my garage!!) Seriously.

Now, keep in mind that I don’t blame the man who came to inspect my house. My problem with some of the recommendations comes from the lack of intelligence/common sense in those who passed the regulations about these things to start with without taking into account that all homes were not built yesterday and the materials with which they are built will all go up in smoke given the opportunity. Those kinds of things drive me crazy!

Attached to the list was a message from one of the people assigned to assist us with the move which read (in part), “ALL listed defects must be rectified before any sale can be completed.”

Right after I quit shaking my head at the insanity of the regulatory statutes and had a mini-panic about the financial ramifications of the list and the logistical nightmare of trying to get all of these things done, get the house in show-ready condition so it can be listed by the end of the week–not to mention trying to get a new place to live lined up, furnished and moved into on the other end of things—I actually went outside to just walk around and breathe for a bit. I needed a break.

Within the hour, we were on a conference call with someone who could really assist us with this process. Her first words were something along the lines of, “I just got the list and I knew that I’d be hearing from you soon. First, let me say that I’m waiving X, X & X, etc. because they don’t apply to your home and they are not considered to be defects.”

Why not say that in the email? Why not lead with the good news?! Why send out an email or start a conversation or share information—with me or with ANYONE!– that is dire, scary or difficult to process without taking into account that the information is incomplete or irrelevant…especially if you already know that the information is irrelevant!

That’s why I started this post off with the verse from John 3:16. That’s good news for everyone! It is applicable to everyone. It is relevant and necessary information! It applies to me and it applies to you! It is truly the best news I’ve ever heard and I want to make sure you hear it, too!

God loves you! In fact, He adores you!—so much, in fact, that He took extraordinary measures to make sure that you could spend all of eternity with Him! He wants you around…not just then, but now! Yes, He leaves the decision up to each of us, but He’s already told us how He feels and what He wants our decision to be. The way is His. The choice is ours.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

It doesn’t hurt to end with good news, either! (grin)

*Incidentally, we will have to address 4 of the 26 things listed…and they won’t cost anywhere the projected cost on the email. Go, GOD!